Name: Aaron Sobol
Job title: Head of Media Investments and Partnerships
Company: Unilever United States, Inc.
Aaron joined Unilever in 2021 and oversees holistic investment across National and Retail Media. Since joining Unilever he has been heavily focused on evolving retail media partnerships, working closely with shopper marketing, looking to enhance commercial process, ad offerings, data and measurement capabilities. Additionally, Aaron is leading the charge of putting Unilever on the frontlines of media and is passionate about innovating in areas like streaming, social, gaming, and Web3. He is also leading a data in media committee which focuses on data strategy, data ethics, and being future fit.
Aaron’s has 17 years’ experience in media, spanning a range of categories and marketers. He has had the privilege of working on iconic brands like Coca-Cola, Fiat Chrysler, Microsoft, USPS, Subaru, Dyson, Sears/Kmart and many more.
Aaron’s has 17 years’ experience in media, spanning a range of categories and marketers. He has had the privilege of working on iconic brands like Coca-Cola, Fiat Chrysler, Microsoft, USPS, Subaru, Dyson, Sears/Kmart and many more.
Aaron holds a B.S. in Sports and Entertainment Marketing from New York University.
Name: Alexandra Bosley
Job title: Marketing Director, Global Brands
Company: Nestlé USA
With ~20 years of leading complex multi-functional organizations across various categories and channels of business, I am a passionate change agent who has led various organizational and systemic overhauls, all while consistently developing inspired and results-focused teams.
As Head US CPG Marketing for Nestlé Coffee Partners I enjoy the privilege of guiding incredible marketers as we serve diverse consumers (within one of my most loved personal categories) while helping drive sustainable portfolio growth across Starbucks, Nescafé, Seattle’s Best Coffee, and Blue Bottle at-home coffee P&Ls.
Beyond the love for my current team & scope, talking coffee all day + staying extremely well-caffeinated also ensure that my husband Rodrigo and I can keep-up with our 3 joyfully energetic children (Niko–5.5, Anasofia–3.5 and Mariella-10months!
With my Mom having grown-up in Germany, my Dad in the US, my Husband in Mexico, and now raising tri-lingual children together, I value cross-cultural immersion + language as precious paths to more authentic levels of empathy, understanding & influence.
I remain extremely curious with an insatiable desire to learn and make a difference and am grateful to be on this learning journey together with each of you!
Name: Americo de Campos Silva
Job title: Global Head of Integrated Brand & Communications
Company: Shell Brands International AG
A passionate and experienced marketer with a track record of high performance and delivery of results, currently responsible for all the global Brand communications/advertising for Shell.
Originally from Portugal, joined Shell 30 years ago after some years working in Advertising @Publicis.
Have worked in different countries in Local, Regional and Global roles, currently based in Switzerland.
Studied Marketing and Advertising/PR in the university.
What I enjoy about my role
Brand & Communications has never been more rewarding and challenging at the same time.
To learn, test and implement the new possibilities to reach, interact and engage with our audiences is just fascinating.
I also love to be able to work across different business challenges, audiences, cultures and geographies, trying always to do great work that lasts in our memory for it’s simplicity, impact and boldness. Work that is legendary.
Biggest challenges
More than ever consumers prefer simple lies Vs complex truths.
Continuous need for capability building across all marketing and communications teams.
As head of Global Brand Marketing and Communications of CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, Anita is responsible for building, maintaining and protecting the company’s global brand through comprehensive multi-channel marketing and communications including branding, advertising, marketing communications, public relations, internal communications, change management, thought leadership, social media, digital communications, sports marketing and executive positioning. She also co-leads the company’s ESG strategy, oversees the CME Group Foundation and serves as President, Futures Fundamentals, an intra-industry educational site about futures trading.
During her tenure, she helped take the company public and shaped the branding, marketing and all internal/external communications strategies for a number of significant acquisitions, including with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and NEX Group plc (NEX). Under her leadership, CME Group has repeatedly been named the world’s most valuable exchange brand for nine years in a row. In 2018, she was named “top woman in public relations” by PR News.
In addition to CME Group, Anita has served in various marketing/communications roles at T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. Wells Fargo & Co., the Chicago Board of Trade and public relations agencies including MSL Global and Financial Shares. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northern Illinois University.
Name: Ann-Camilla Kjaempe
Job title: Global Head of Brand
Company: Castello
I am a passionate commercial-marketer, with a high performance result-oriented drive and strong leadership skills.
I am driven by working with companies, brands, products, concepts and ideas that makes a difference to people’s lives and the world we live in, such as what we do in Arla. I enjoy to motivate and inspire others to grow and reach beyond expectations. I use purpose and the “why” in my leadership to create and grow winning teams.
I have a commercial acumen with a proven track record of establishing brands, growing categories, driving local and global businesses and perform with agility in volatile markets. I have in my career with success delivered long-term global and local strategies, to annual business plans and in year executions. I thrive from executions and enjoy being close to the business.
I have an innovative mindset, and always look for better ways of working, performing and delivering innovative solutions to customers and consumers.
Bailey Stone Wolford is the VP of Marketing at Atria Management Company. The management company operates more than 350 senior living communities across the United States and Canada. Brands under Bailey’s management include Coterie, Atria Senior Living, Atria Signature, Atria Park, Holiday by Atria, Atria Home Care and Atria Retirement Canada. Bailey has been with Atria Management Company for three years. Before leading the business’ 65-person in-house agency, she spent 9 years in agriculture finance marketing, and before that, 3 years in foreign currency marketing. Bailey is a mother of three – Stone (9) and twins June and Rose (5). She enjoys cooking, hiking the outdoors with her husband, Dan, and competing with strangers on her Peloton.
Name: Brando Brandstaeter
Job title: Head of Global Brand & Communication
Company: Midea Group
Brando is a globally well-connected, passionate, and award-winning creative brand strategist with 22+ years of multi-dimensional perspective within the marketing-communication business.
Having started his career at a small independent audio-visual production and media planning agency in his hometown Berlin, he soon moved to Barcelona, where he, next to his account manager job at a leading independent agency, started to grow a small European 25-partner agency network to the world’s largest independent agency network.
After 10 years in Barcelona, he moved back to Germany, taking on different roles at WPP’s research-based brand consultancy Millward Brown – now Kantar. Leading national and international qualitative research projects across a very diverse range of industries, categories, and brands, travelling 130+ days a year through 60+ countries, always working with multi-culturally diverse teams, added to his broad portfolio of experiences.
2015 the world’s largest home appliance company based in China was looking for a global Head of Brand & Communication. After 15+ years on agency side, it was the perfect opportunity to apply all his accumulated knowledge and lead global teams in a Fortune500 company.
Within Midea Group, Brando led the repositioning and global launch of Midea, the refreshing of the acquired TOSHIBA brand, created the young Comfee’ brand from scratch, established the Midea Group corporate holding company brand, signed the company’s first-ever global sponsorship contract with Manchester City, and is currently working on refreshing the acquired American eureka brand as well as launching the newly created Italian MasterKitchen brand for their respective global launches.
In his youth, Brando was a competitive swimmer in East Germany’s famous Berlin Sports School. Extreme discipline and endurance with constant self-challenges trained at young age also motivated him to dare to do his part-time Executive MBA in Spanish in Barcelona at one of Spain’s leading business schools 2007-2009.
Being fluent in English, Spanish and German, studying Chinese, and having accumulated the basics in French, Catalan, Portuguese and Russian – Arabic seems missing. After now past 7 years in China, together with his wife from Accra, and his son born in Guangzhou, the young family’s next stop is Dubai, where they aim to continue embracing the diverse and intercontinental life they fell in love with.
Name: Claudia Kirwald
Job title: Head of Marketing
Company: United Nations Global Compact
Claudia is a marketing leader with a passion to drive business action to advance sustainable development and secure long-term business growth. She has proven experience in marketing strategy, product marketing, content marketing and campaign management. With over 20 years B2B marketing experience, Claudia has led award-winning marketing campaigns and introduced new solutions across borders. As the Head of Marketing for the United Nations Global Compact, Claudia is responsible for developing and executing marketing strategies and plans to mobilize a global movement of accountable companies aligned to the 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. At Thomson Reuters, Claudia oversaw content marketing initiatives, both internal and external, across multiple platforms and formats to drive sales, engagement, retention, and leads. Prior to this role, Claudia served as a global product marketing manager were she focused on product marketing with an emphasis on effective go-to-market strategies and execution. Claudia started her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Claudia holds a Masters degree in Marketing from New York University and a Bachelor in Business Administration from the University of Houston.
Eric Greifenberger is an accomplished Marketing & Sales executive with over 25 years of CPG experience. Currently, he is the Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Upward Farms, a Brooklyn based aquaponic vertical farm revolutionizing indoor agriculture. Over the past 18 months Eric built out a Marketing & Sales team, developed a long-range strategic plan, helped refine the company purpose and values, overhauled the brand world and identified a 5-year product pipeline.
Eric honed his skills over the years first working on iconic brands while at Kraft Foods and later as a growth strategy consultant leading engagements for clients including Johnson & Johnson and Darden restaurants. Additionally, he brings advertising agency experience leading campaign development for brands at Diageo and Church & Dwight.
Before joining Upward Farms, Eric worked at the Sabra Dipping Co, a fresh foods company. During his tenure at Sabra, he held several leadership roles including head of the US Marketing team responsible for Brand Building, Innovation, Shopper Marketing and Consumer Insights. While at Sabra he led a brand repositioning initiative, launched innovation platforms, and drove double-digit growth for the plant-based snacking portfolio.
Eric and his family live in Westport, CT where he has enjoyed coaching his 3 kids in various sports over the years. He is an avid skier and avid but average golfer.
Name: Eva Heath
Job title: Director, Member Engagement
Company: Kaiser Permanente
Eva Heath is Kaiser Permanente’s Senior Director, Business and Member Marketing. Since joining KP in 2007, Eva has led evidence-based marketing teams and initiatives to drive enterprise-wide membership growth and retention. In her 15 years with the company, Eva helped establish a national shared service for retention marketing, held a key role in the organization’s market-facing response to COVID-19, and more recently stood up a national B2B growth marketing infrastructure and thought leadership practice to increase and accelerate commercial group sales and renewals.
Prior to joining KP, Eva held a range of marketing roles ranging from analyst relations, to direct and digital marketing for well-known enterprise and consumer brands across financial services, technology and the arts. Eva earned her Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley and Master of Research degree from The University of London. She lives in Orinda, CA with her family.
As Chief Marketing Officer of Aflac U.S., Garth is responsible for building, growing and leading a world-class marketing organization in alignment with the business goals of Aflac U.S., helping drive new sales, customer loyalty and culture, all while protecting a multibillion-dollar brand.
Key areas of focus include: measurable integrated national advertising campaigns targeting consumers, policyholders and other important constituencies; supporting Aflac’s best-in-class distribution networks, including independent agents, broker network, direct-to-consumer channel and partner distributers; and growing Aflac’s in-house marketing capabilities to create more effective messaging, maximize spend and increase speed to market.
Prior to joining Aflac, Garth spent 18 years working in advertising agencies and leading accounts for large and small brands across a wide range of industries, including tech, financial services, QSR, direct-to-consumer automotive and insurance to name a few.
Outside of work, Garth enjoys spending time exploring the Pacific Northwest with his wife Arielle and Australian shepherd, Scout.
Name: Ifunanya Obiakor
Job title: Head of Marketing Africa
Company: Arla
Combine a strong business acumen, with passion for building brands, and you would have perfectly described Ifunanya Obiakor.
Ify is currently the Head of Marketing & Innovation in Arla Nigeria, and leads a team of Category Managers across Milk Powder, Liquid Milk, Cheese and BSM categories. She has been instrumental to transforming the Arla Nigeria business into a sustainably profitable business, has grown the flagship brand, Dano to a strong No.2 Milk brand in Nigeria and led the successful launch of new products into the Nigerian market.
So far in her career at Arla, she has bagged amiable brand & personal awards like “Guinness world record for Longest milk pouring relay (2018)”, “Dairy brand of the year (2020 & 2021)”, “Marketing Manager of the year (2020)” “40Under40 Women in Marketing & communication (2021)” & very recently, “Most outstanding dairy campaign (2022)”.
Ify has over 10 years’ experience in brand management across multiple categories and has previously worked for popular consumer goods companies – PZ Cussons & Friesland Campina.
At her leisure, Ifunanya enjoys travelling, watching movies and spending quality time with family. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria, with her husband.
Name: Jennifer Albert
Job title: Senior Marketing Manager
Company: PPG Industries
Jennifer Albert serves as the Marketing Director for PPG’s Architectural Coatings organization with responsibility for the United States and Canada territories. In this role, Albert provides strategic oversight of Marketing and brand support to PPG’s consumer and professional paint and coatings products. Since assuming the role in 2016, she has successfully aligned and grown her team of over 50 employees, leading with an emphasis on strategic focus, creativity, and excellent interpersonal skills. Albert’s versatile skill set has made her an impactful, results-oriented brand marketer.
Prior to joining PPG, Albert served as Vice President of Marketing for Contessa Premium Foods & Aqua Star Seafood where she is credited for developing and deploying a licensing partnership with a culinary media personality. Her work in this area was foundational to the launch of a multiple category product line which drove over 5% of category growth in one year’s time. In doing so, Albert relied on her experience from her previous employer, StarKist Foods. As Marketing Director for Starkist, she led a high-achieving team most notably credited with standing up the Starkist brand and delivering record first-year category growth of over $60 million.
Albert joined Contessa from DelMonte Foods, where she grew her knowledge of new ventures and brand management. During her tenure with DelMonte, she contributed to the success of several brands, including to the record net sales and share levels of Kibbles n’ Bits, accounting for over 50% of the total pet food gross profit. Albert also helped to redefine brand positioning, persona and go-to-market strategies, giving her exposure to a myriad of promotional channels including television, digital advertising and in-store.
She holds a bachelor of science degree in Applied Mathematics with a concentration in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Albert resides in Pittsburgh, PA., with her husband and son. She and her family enjoy being involved within the local community and actively support youth hockey programs.
Name: John Rocco
Job title: VP
Company: Scotiabank
Throughout my 20-year career, I have established myself as a dynamic and forward-thinking business leader. I have promoted organizational growth through exceptional brand strategies, performance and digital marketing, and relationship management. I pride myself on increasing innovation, capitalizing on emerging technologies to bolster brand awareness and deliver optimal results. I am passionate about helping businesses thrive in fast-paced and ever-changing domestic and international markets.
Some of the organizations that I have helped to build include Target, Sonnet Insurance, Loblaw Companies, and others.
I have consistently led exceptional marketing campaigns, increasing revenue and profitability. Leveraging customer journey mapping, I have driven positive results across multiple channels. While others make claims that they can benefit companies, my record continually demonstrates my ability to change organizations for the better.
Name: Karen Redfern
Job title: CMO / Senior Vice President
Company: Go RVing
As CMO and Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing and Communications for the RV Industry Association, Karen leads the team of marketing and communications professionals responsible for the industry’s consumer-facing brand marketing campaign, Go RVing, including strategic marketing, social and digital media, traditional advertising, video content creation, public relations, experiential marketing, partnerships, and consumer trends and research.
Karen has spent the last 30 years of her career in PR, media and marketing roles within the RV Industry. Under Karen’s leadership, Go RVing launched its digital and social media platforms, and the strategically-focused team has been successful in creating a recognizable and trusted image for the brand. Changing the (mis)perception of what is an RV and who is an RVer have been instrumental to the campaign’s success. Embracing diversity for more than a decade, Karen and her team have strategically engaged younger and more diverse RV buyers through authentically curated content.
Prior to the RV industry, Karen held marketing positions in retail and franchise corporations, insurance and economic development. Karen is a 2023 inductee into the RV Industry Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN for her impact on expanding the industry and mentoring women. Her passion extends beyond the RV industry where she volunteers with several organizations dedicated to assisting and empowering women, especially victims of domestic abuse. She is an avid DIYer at home, tackling reno projects big and small and enjoys time relaxing by hiking, biking and kayaking.
Name: Karen Deutsch
Job title: CMO, Medicare and Retirement
Company: UnitedHealth Group, Inc.
Karen Deutsch serves as Chief Marketing Officer of Government Programs for UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement, a division of United Healthcare dedicated to delivering the most affordable coverage, simplest experience, and highest quality, supported care.
Karen joined United Healthcare in July of 2022 and is responsible for deepening engagement with existing customers, while also expanding brand awareness and consideration leading to growth with new consumer bases within the Medicare and Government Programs portfolios. She also oversees media and creative strategy, analytics and the marketing tech stack to positively shape the sentiment and customer experience in an ever-changing healthcare marketplace by exceeding customer expectations, driving personalization and increasing loyalty.
Karen brings a wealth of marketing experience and knowledge from her previous roles at Coca-Cola, Target, and U.S. Bank where she led key strategic marketing efforts and creative strategy for Q4 Holiday, Grocery Reinvention, Target Run and the positioning and product launch of Bank Smartly.
In addition to her marketing leadership, she served as Secretary on the Executive Board of Directors at The BrandLab, an organization that seeks to ensure marketing and advertising careers are accessible to everyone.
Karen holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa, and lives in Edina, MN with her husband and two sons. She enjoys being a sports fan, reading about motivators and influencers, volunteering her time, riding her bike and being a student of consumers and culture.
Name: Kristen Delphos
Job title: VP, Corporate Communications & Public Relations
Company: UL Research Institutes
Kristen Delphos is Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs for UL Research Institutes. Delphos leads communications strategies that support both UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement’s growth and influence. Delphos’ work also further establishes relationships with key external stakeholders — from policymakers and regulators around the world to academic partners and nongovernmental organizations — in connection with other UL enterprise leaders and in support of the enterprise mission of working for a safer world. Before joining UL Research Institutes, Delphos served as vice president and head of global marketing and communications at Dematic, developing and implementing an integrated strategy to support brand, marketing, and communications for the company’s automation solutions.
She has more than 15 years of experience in developing and leading communications programs across the transportation, energy, manufacturing, and consumer sectors, having held global communications leadership roles at other Fortune-ranked companies, including ABB, GE Industrial Solutions, ADT, and UPS.
Delphos holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Massachusetts. She is a member of the Forbes Communications Council and was part of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation’s Inspire Atlanta class of 2020, where she earned the top fundraising achievement. Delphos has an interest in health and well-being and is certified as an integrative nutrition coach and in mindfulness-based stress reduction, including facilitating workplace mindfulness.
Lauren Sallata was appointed Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for Ricoh North America in June 2021. She brings more than 20 years of experience to the role as an award-winning marketing professional and executive leader. She has successfully led large, global technology organizations through brand and digital marketing transformations all with a focus on the customer experience, increased engagement and significant, sustainable growth.
Sallata joined Ricoh from Panasonic Corporation, where she most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer in a unique role leading North American marketing while also involved in global strategy in Japan. Under her leadership, Sallata led the marketing transformation in North America, redesigning brand and digital strategy to align with the organization’s new business positioning. She repositioned the brand from consumer to a holistic provider of B2B integrated solutions. Sallata increased overall purchase intent and awareness, developed regional and global brand strategy for long-term positioning among Millennial and Gen Z buyers, and launched a best-in-class marketing technology strategy and customer engagement platform. During her time at Panasonic, Sallata received many industry awards and honors, including: 2020 ITSMA Marketing Excellence Diamond Award in Transforming the Brand; 2018 ANA B2 ‘Marketer of the Year’ top three finalist; and two 2017 Stevie Business Awards for B2B Campaign of the Year.
Prior to Panasonic, Sallata held leadership positions at Xerox Corporation from 2008-2016, including Vice President of Business Development & Marketing where she led strategy and execution for the corporation’s rebrand and enterprise portfolio project. Her early career was spent at Verizon Business in several Senior Management roles where she led marketing and sales strategy for high-growth business units, managed client relations and P&L contract operations.
Sallata’s expertise in adapting and thriving during massive change is a consistent thread and key driver for her. She shares her knowledge widely through thought leadership, which has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Advertising Week, and Advertising Age. She has been a member of several corporate and industry boards throughout her career, currently serving on the Board of Trustees for the Consumer Technology Association.
Name: Lesly Marban
Job title: Vice President Marketing
Company: Intuitive Surgical, Inc.
Lesly Marban is Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing at Intuitive. She joined the company in late 2020, bringing more than 20 years of experience as a purpose-driven marketing, branding, and strategy expert at generic and branded pharmaceutical products and medical device companies. One of Lesly’s core strengths is incorporating new forms of technology into product portfolios to ensure they are positioned for sustainable and scalable success.
Prior to joining Intuitive, Lesly was founder and principal of Diberin Solutions, which provided industry expertise and management consulting to high-growth startups and small to medium sized companies focused on medical devices, pharmaceutical, biotech, and contract services. Prior to Diberin Solutions, Lesly was the Chief Marketing Officer of Medline Industries, Inc. where she oversaw the medical supplier’s overall brand strategy and found new ways to position the company for growth. She led the company in several new market entry initiatives in the post-acute care market that drove over $1 billion of incremental sales within four years. Lesly managed a team of more than 100 people and was responsible for all facets of marketing.
Lesly has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Illinois and an MBA from DePaul University.
Name: Mario Mijares
Job title: VP Marketing, Loyalty, Analytics, and Monetization
Company: 7-Eleven, Inc.
Mario leads the Loyalty, Analytics, Personalization, Monetization, shopper and in-store marketing teams at 7-Eleven. He has over 20 years of management and strategy-consulting experience with top retailers across USA, UK, France, Canada, Mexico, and Australia. He is an engineer with an MBA from Kellogg.
Mark is an experienced marketing communications executive who has worked on both the Agency and Client sides of the business.
Mark is the Head of Brand Marketing at Goldman Sachs. In that role he oversees campaign development for key initiatives, the firm’s social presences and key sports partnerships.
Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mark had a number of agency leadership roles in both the creative and performance-marketing areas and led teams for clients as varied as McDonalds, Microsoft, Amazon and Pedigree.
Mark lives in New York City with his wife and their two young boys. He has an MSc from the Dublin Institute of Technology and an BA from Trinity College, Dublin (where for two years he was also the on-campus representative for Guinness, tasked with building brand loyalty through event sponsorship. – Best. Job. Ever)
Name: Melissa Wagner
Job title: Brand Experience Strategy Director & Chief of Staff
Company: General Mills, Inc.
Melissa Wagner is the Strategy Director for General Mills’ Brand Experience team and the Chief of Staff for the Chief Brand and Disruptive Growth Officer. She leads strategy, communication and development work to continually modernize and elevate the consumer brand building capability across General Mills’ global organization.
Melissa believes that the role of marketing is to help all families thrive by delivering remarkable brand experiences. And she’s a firm believer that market dynamics necessitate a constant evolution in marketing approaches. Brand leaders must embrace radical collaboration in order to create greater value for consumers, employees and broader society. This is evident in her approach to building teams and cultivating internal culture, which thrives on curiosity, creativity, learning and empathy in order to drive employee fulfillment and fuel business performance.
Melissa holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She lives in Minneapolis, MN with her husband, stepsons and 5 year old daughter.
I am a collaborative, innovative and thoughtful people-centric leader at the intersection of Marketing, Communications and HR. I have a proven track record of driving impact with an entrepreneurial mindset and ability to build strategies and programs from the ground up.
I am thrilled to currently be leading the Enterprise Marketing team at Scotiabank driving the business forward through marketing strategy (vision setting), ESG amplification (Net Zero and inclusion marketing), Office of the CEO, employee marketing, talent marketing and program ownership of the enterprise-level of the Scotiabank Women Initiative. My deep experience with data, insights, culture, performance and engagement, ESG, DEI and navigating organizations serve me well in my daily mission to be a force for growth and a force for good.
Outside of work, you can find me spending time with my family, including my two sons—and we’re most likely in a hockey arena or at the baseball diamond.
Name: Rob Whitney’s
Job title: Vice President Global Marketing
Company: Univar Solutions USA Inc.
Rob serves as the Vice President of Global Marketing for Univar Solutions, a global leader in chemical and ingredient distribution representing premier global suppliers. In this role he leads the team responsible for strategic marketing, marketing communications, lead generation, digital category management, tradeshows & corporate events, new business development, content marketing, and
analytics across multiple market verticals, such as Beauty & Personal Care, Food, Pharmaceutical, Coatings, Energy and Household & Industrial Cleaning. Prior to its acquisition by Univar, Rob served as Director of Global Marketing & Digital Strategy at Nexeo Solutions. He has held senior marketing, communications, and government affairs roles in both the public and private sector, to include an appointment in the administration of President George W. Bush at the US Department of Transportation. Rob holds a master’s degree in corporate communications from Georgetown University and bachelor’s degree in international relations from Christopher Newport University.
Stephanie Fried has spent 20 years building and leading the most innovative marketing and research
teams in media. She is currently the Chief Marketing Officer at Fandom, a global entertainment brand powered by fan passion. She has been instrumental in accelerating audience growth to 300MM visitors per month and driving engagement through audience development, UA, consumer insights, design, experiences, and communications.
Prior to joining Fandom, she was the EVP, Marketing, Research and Analytics at Condé Nast and led teams across iconic brands such as The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Vogue. Stephanie’s team grew digital audiences by +50% and engagement by +82% YoY during her tenure. Before Condé Nast, Stephanie led Digital Insights and Marketing at Discovery Communications, where she built a team to support sales, distribution, editorial, and product across all digital marketing and research functions, including researching, modeling and launching Discovery’s TV Everywhere platform. At VEVO, Stephanie served as Vice President, Research Insights and Analytics, where she grew the team 4X and built an analytics and data infrastructure to service content, sales and partnerships. Before VEVO, she was the Director of Digital Insights at NBC Universal, where she oversaw digital consumer insights, developing the first comprehensive insights study on full episode streaming behavior when the major networks launched streaming platforms in 2006.
Stephanie has a BA with honors in History from the University of Michigan and an MBA in Marketing Management from Columbia Business School. She loves transforming businesses and believes that with a deep understanding of consumer needs and market trends, companies can uncover, test and prove out new and exciting paths to growth.
Name: Tobias Feix
Job title: Global Head of Food Inspiration
Company: Arla
I am Tobias, 46 years old from Germany. For the past 6 years, I have been living in Denmark. Before that: Dubai, Switzerland, Germany, USA and Kenya.
I am married to a wonderful Danish wife and father of 2 magnificent daughters.
My professional experience spans 18 years in FMCG marketing and brand management in local and international roles for Beiersdorf, Henkel and Arla (since 2017).
My core competencies include all key aspects of marketing and brand management: strategy development and implementation, development and implementation of business plans and marketing calendars, brand positioning, communication development, innovation management, P&L steering, portfolio management, media planning, digital marketing, market research, insights generation, data analysis, agency management, stakeholder management.
Name: Vahe Ayvazian
Job title: Divisional Vice President of Marketing Global Diagnostics
Company: Abbott
Vahe Ayvazian recently became the Divisional Vice President of Marketing for the Core Laboratory Diagnostics business at Abbott. In this role, he will focus on collaborating with the broader Abbott organization and customers across the globe to deliver measurably better healthcare performance through innovative ways to apply lab medicine to the healthcare ecosystem.
Before taking on his global responsibilities, Vahe served as the Director of Marketing for the US Abbott Diagnostics Core Lab business for five years, launching key product initiatives such as Alinity and AlinIQ. He also worked on several key strategic projects including the Abbott Transformation System and led the development of the global Collaboratory brand campaign.
Prior to joining Abbott, Vahe spent twelve years in marketing and category management roles at Procter & Gamble. Responsibilities on the Prilosec OTC launch, global Pantene, and customer facing (Walmart, Costco, CVS, etc.) resulted in winning an Effie as a Senior Brand Manager for Pantene.
Vahe earned his bachelor’s degree in Marketing and International Business from the Honors Program at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. As a passionate learner, Vahe has taken several executive education courses from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern, including their CMO Program and Big Data.
Vahe is a husband of 16 years and has two children. He is on the board of a local school district educational foundation, loves cheering on his children at their multiple sporting events, enjoys working out regularly, and entertaining family and friends.
